Mechanism for providing unified access to decentralized user assistance repositories

Abstract

Aspects of the present invention include a method of deploying user assistance information. The method includes providing access to a container storing a plurality of context domain declarations (CDDs), creating a new CDD, wherein the new CDD specifies an associated user assistance repository (UAR), creating pattern information which identifies an application or application state for which the associated UAR is applicable, deploying the new CDD independently from the application and the associated UAR, and distributing the new CDD to one or more users.

What is claimed: 
     
       1. A method of deploying user assistance information, the method comprising:
 providing access to a container storing a plurality of context domain declarations (CDDs), each CDD of the plurality of CDDs associated with at least one user assistance repository (UAR); 
 creating a new CDD, wherein the new CDD specifies an associated user assistance repository (UAR) and a universal resource identifier (URI), the URI identifying an application or application state for which the associated UAR for the new CDD is applicable; 
 deploying the new CDD independently from the application and the associated UAR; 
 distributing the new CDD to one or more users; 
 identifying current state information for a first application being executed for a user of the one or more users, the current state information including a universal resource identifier (URI) associated with the first application; 
 for each CDD of the plurality of CDDs, comparing the URI associated with the first application with the URI associated with the CDD; 
 based on the comparing, determining that the URI associated with a first CDD of the plurality of CDDs matches the URI associated with the first application; 
 retrieving the associated UAR for the first CDD; and 
 providing the UAR to the user. 
 
     
     
       2. The method of deploying user assistance information as in  claim 1 , further comprising:
 retrieving universal resource information for the UAR; and 
 using the universal resource information to access content from the UAR. 
 
     
     
       3. The method of deploying user assistance information as in  claim 2 , wherein the distributing of the new CDD to the one or more users further comprises notifying the one or more users via one or more communications protocols. 
     
     
       4. The method of deploying user assistance information as in  claim 3 , wherein the one or more communications protocols include one or more of the following: email, resource description framework (RDF) site summary (RSS), short message service (SMS), micro-blogging, or blogging. 
     
     
       5. The method of deploying user assistance information as in  claim 4 , further comprising automatically populating one or more of the communications protocols for the one or more users based at least in part on a business or application group associated with the one or more users. 
     
     
       6. The method of deploying user assistance information as in  claim 2 , further comprising:
 determining that the UAR associated with the new CDD is to be accessed by at least one user; 
 caching content from the new CDD; and 
 merging entries from the new CDD with previously existing entries. 
 
     
     
       7. The method of deploying user assistance information as in  claim 2 , further comprising:
 determining that the UAR associated with the new CDD is not to be accessed by at least one user; 
 determining that the new CDD includes a push deployment designation; and 
 in response to the determination that the new CDD includes the push deployment designation, caching content from the new CDD. 
 
     
     
       8. The method of deploying user assistance information as in  claim 1 , wherein information for the new CDD comprises structured data configured to be processed by machines: extensible markup language (XML) or JavaScript Object Notation (JSON). 
     
     
       9. The method of deploying user assistance information as in  claim 1 , wherein the associated UAR is controlled by a third party, and wherein at least one of the third party, the one or more users, and an application's host server are independently controlled and authenticated. 
     
     
       10. The method of deploying user assistance information as in  claim 1 , wherein adding of the new content into a UAR is initiated in part by interacting with a submit new content interface mechanism. 
     
     
       11. The method of deploying user assistance information as in  claim 1 , wherein accessing the associated UAR includes pre-populating security credential information. 
     
     
       12. A method of providing universal access to user assistance repositories (UARs), the method comprising:
 identifying current state information for a first application being executed for at least one user, wherein the current state information includes a universal resource identifier (URI) associated with the first application; 
 accessing one or more context domain declarations (CDDs) from an original repository or from a cached storage location, wherein each CDD of the one or more CDDs is associated with a user assistance repository (UAR) and a universal resource identifier (URI), the URI identifying an application or application state for which the associated UAR for the CDD is applicable; 
 for each CDD of the one or more CDDs, comparing the URI associated with the first application with the URI associated with the CDD; 
 based on the comparing, determining that the URI associated with a first CDD of the one or more CDDs matches the URI associated with the first application; 
 retrieving the associated UAR for the first CDD; and 
 providing the UAR to the user. 
 
     
     
       13. The method of providing universal access to UARs as in  claim 12 , further comprising:
 determining that no UAR includes applicable information for the current state information; and 
 in response, providing an interface configured to add one or more new documents to one or more UARs where the UAR association is determined based on the one or more CDDs and the application state. 
 
     
     
       14. The method of providing universal access to UARs as in  claim 12 , further comprising searching for the associated UAR and returning universal resource information for the associated UAR. 
     
     
       15. The method of providing universal access to UARs as in  claim 14 , wherein the associated UAR includes content specific to the current state of the application. 
     
     
       16. The method of providing universal access to UARs as in  claim 12 , further comprising:
 populating a set of attributes for the UAR; and 
 providing the at least one user with a subscription interface for the UAR based on the set of attributes. 
 
     
     
       17. The method of providing universal access to UARs as in  claim 16 , further comprising:
 generating a set of rules for each UAR indicating each UAR's relevancy to one or more contexts; and 
 updating the set of rules in response to receiving changes to the relevancy of at least one of the UARs. 
 
     
     
       18. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions executable by one or more processors, the computer-executable instructions comprising:
 instructions that cause the one or more processors to identify current state information for a first application being executed for at least one user, wherein the current state information includes a universal resource identifier (URI) associated with the first application; 
 instructions that cause the one or more processors to access one or more context domain declarations (CDDs) from an original repository or from a cached storage location, wherein each CDD of the one or more CDDs is associated with a user assistance repository (UAR) and a universal resource identifier (URI), the URI identifying an application or application state for which the associated UAR for the CDD is applicable; 
 for each CDD of the one or more CDDs, instructions that cause the one or more processors to compare the URI associated with the first application with the URI associated with the CDD; 
 based on the comparing, instructions that cause the one or more processors to determine that the URI associated with a first CDD of the one or more CDDs matches the URI associated with the first application; 
 instructions that cause the one or more processors to retrieve the associated UAR for the first CDD; and 
 instructions that cause the one or more processors to provide the UAR to the user.